Monthly Archives: June 2014

Yesterday morning there was a meeting of the Chiang Mai Expats Club at the Le Meridien Hotel in the Night Bazaar area.

President Nancy

At the beginning of the meeting President Nancy announced that on September 20, a Special Members only General Meeting will be held, to present a new constitution. The current constitution is very dated. She explained that the new constitution will contain prrovision for Annual General Meetings and elections for Club Officers. The current Board are to be congratulated for their fresh approach to the proper management of the Club.

She also announced details of the new Facebook page and how the website was currently undergoing a major revamp. Members are encouraged to visit both sites and “like” the Facebook page.

Hippotherapy at Skill Centre Chiang Mai

Then followed a video presentation by Lucas from the Skill Centre Chiang Mai. Their hippotherapy with handicapped children can be seen in the video on their web site and is well worth watching. The Centre welcomes volunteeers to become involved to assist on a regular basis at their stables.

The main presentation was by volunteers from TEDx Chiang Mai who spoke about their international creativity and idea forum to be held at Le Meridien on 27 September. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design and the x means that it is an independently organised event. A similar very successful event was held at the Le Meredian hotel last year. I would like to attend this forum, but unfortunately I will be in Australia at the time.

Last night 14 of us from the Dining Out Group enjoyed a meal at Andy’s Place. The restaurant is tucked away in a soi behind the Furama Hotel, quite close to the Rincome Intersection, and in easy walking distance of my apartment.

Andy’s is predominantly an Italian restaurant (but he does some Thai dishes), and is owned and operated by a Thai who spent 15 years of his life in Italy and has much experience. It has been open for only 14 months.

A limited menu, which emphasizes serving the food he can do really well, rather than offering a long menu. Prices are very reasonable.

What he calls “Mama Fish” is very popular. This is a filet of mung fish pan fried and served with his delicious potato salad that includes many green vegetables and rice. This is his mom’s recipe who also works there.

Pon Yang Kham is the name of a village in Sakhon Nakhon, a north-eastern province of Thailand. The village is home to the Pon Yang Kham Livestock cooperatives that farms Thailand’s best beef.The main goal of the cooperative is to produce high quality beef to replace imports of foreign beef. Mr. Francois Max Adair, who died a few years ago, founded and built up a large business with the Sakhon Nakhon beef cooperative that benefits thousands of Isarn farmers.

Started with 38 cows in 1981, the cooperatives now produce about 500 to 600 cows every month. It was a tough start for the cooperatives to produce local beef in the market where only international big names are recognized.The animals are French hybrid cows between two best breeds Charolais and Limosin, and sponsored by the French government.

Butchery Outlet and Restaurant

Pon Yang Kham have a restaurant and butchery outlet in Chiang Mai, located in Canal Road, near the Huay Kaew Road intersection.Prices (kg) are a bit expensive eg. Tenderloin 1248 Baht, T-Bone 655 Baht, Ribeye 876 Baht, and Rump 469 Baht, but the meat is arguably the best local beef in Thailand. Beef Burger Patties are 245 Baht/kg.

Last night the Dining Out Group, only 10 of us, ate at the Suan Paak restaurant. The restaurant is located on the road to the airport and is the next driveway past the Airport Plaza Shopping Mall.

Suan Paak (literally “Vegetable Garden”), is a complex of three restaurants.

The original Suan Paak Restaurant serves salads, organically grown in their hydroponic garden, various Western dishes, and Thai dishes. There is also a Thai Restaurant, and the newer Noodle Restaurant on the premises. Whatever restaurant you end up going to, you won’t miss out on the food from the other places, because you can order from all three!

Sweet & Sour Sea Bass

Toy's Pork Mince

Although the restaurant is famous for it’s salads, I ordered sweet & sour sea bass with pork fried rice while Toy ordered pork mince something or other, a popular Issan style spicy dish.

Outside Suan Paak

It was a pleasant evening. The food was good without being outstanding and the service pleasant if a little detached.

The salak is native to Indonesia but is grown all over Asia. I bought some at Tops supermarket the other day. The fruit , which has skin with a snake skin pattern, had already been peeled and packed in a plastic tray.

Inside the salak fruit contains segments, each containing an inedible seed. The delicious flavour is very distinctive and hard to describe. The sour/sweet taste is somewhat like pineapple.